Europe Trip - Paris (Part II)
Saturday, January 15, 2011

28 Dec 2010 - Paris

It was a long and tiring day because we went to quite a few attractions in a day! Louvre, Arc De Triomphe, Champ Elysees, and Eiffel Tower.. covered all in a day! Omg!!!!! That's quite a number of places. We could have gone to Notre Dame Cathedral too when we change train there but we were too tired and we still had to buy train tickets to Epernay for the next day. The queue for the Epernay tickets was long and we were so tired and exhausted at the end of the day, we had mac for dinner instead of some fancy French cuisine because we were tired to search for food. Mac was quite convenient because it was on our 2mins walk back to our hotel from the subway and we could takeaway to eat in the comfort of our room and rest early.

Start of our 2nd day in Paris.. woke up bright and early, bought pastry from the famous bakery near our hotel and arrived at our 1st destination.. Louvre museum at 9am. We bought 2 pastries each, 1 choc + 1 croissant but I dropped my choc bun and I was soooo sad because it was nice and I only ate half! That's the problem of eating on the go.. but it saves time. Loitered around Louvre for ard 1hr to take photos and walked around to soak in the beautiful architecture. We didn't go into the museum because it was closed. I didn't intend to go in anyway although my colleagues told me it's a must. I don't think I'll admire those art pieces other than Mona Lisa and it wouldn't be worth it to go in and search for Mona Lisa for a few hrs only to stand in front for 5mins.

Here are some photos I took at Louvre.. before we went in..

Inside Louvre.. but not inside the museum..

Some views inside the museum from some windows.. and we've come to the end of the Louvre tour.

Moving on to Arc De Triomphe.. I like this attraction.. Paying to go up there was quite worth it.

Stopped by this grab & go cafe and we each bought a cup of Cappuccino.. Haha.. Firstly, drinking hot stuff can keep you warm. Secondly, my mum is someone who needs a cup of coffee a day to satisfy her caffeine craving. Thirdly, my sis is still feeling hungry.. she says the pastries are not filling.

Arrived at Arc de Triomphe at ard 10am.

We need to climb lotsa spiral stairs.. and everyone was panting.

Arrived at the 1st storey and rested for awhile.. spent some time looking at the exhibitions.

Finally, we've reached the top of Arc de Triomphe! In english, Arc de Triomphe means Triumphal Arch, and in chinese, it's called Kai3 Xuan2 Meng2. It is used to honor those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars, with the names of all French victories and generals inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces.

Cam-whoring.. Tee Hee..

The roads all meet at Arc de Triomphe so from Arc de Triomphe, we can see the roads diverging like stars.

The names and grand arc structure..

The fire that burns continuously.. even in the rain..

After that, it's Shopping time!!! I wasn't in the mood for shopping because it was drizzling.. everywhere was wet and I just felt gloomy like the sky.

Eyes brightened up at the Mont Blanc shop.. I wanted to buy at wallet for Chris from there.. but because it's the X'mas season, all their wallets with coin pouch are sold out. They only had 1 left which didn't look nice. Luckily, I managed to get one I like at Amsterdam.

The renowned 101 Louis Vuitton.. where I bought a small neverfall bag. I had been thinking of getting it before I went Paris already. Actually I don't understand why people like to shop in Paris.. it's so so so crowded and filled with either China-Chinese or Black-French. Luckily I was served by a nice salesgirl but I had to wait there for quite some time before she came over to serve me. Requested to see the bag from a salesgirl at that counter but she told me she's serving this grp of Chinese and she can't serve me! I was so pissed. That group was like they want to see this this this but in the end, they didn't get any when I left. I've already decided what I want, so if she's smart, she can serve me already and still go back to handle them. Well.. I'm glad someone else served me instead and I got what I want.

After getting my LV bag, it's Lunch time and I had planned to eat Jap cuisine. I've researched and there are a couple of nice Jap restaurants around Champs Elysees but we did not manage to find any after walking for close to an hr. By then, we were so tired, we settled for a Chinese restaurant instead. Food and restaurant deco were nice.. so we were contented.

Everything we ordered were seafood-related.. Tofu with King Prawns, Assorted Dim Sum, Broccoli with Crab Claws and Scallop.

After lunch, we continued with our shopping but after that, we realized we shopped at the wrong place. We should have gone to La-fayette shopping mall instead because that's where tourists shop at with lotsa discount and tax rebate. Shopping at Champs Elysees was a bit irritating because the shops are not linked, they are individual buildings. I didn't buy any clothes because nothing caught my eyes. Only my mum bought some clothes from Zara for work and we left for Eiffel Tower at ard 4pm.

Eiffel Tower from afar..

View from the bottom while queuing for the ticket up..

The elevators were operated using wheels and pulleys system.. Amazing.

View from the 2nd level..

At the top level.. which was covered in fog. We shouldn't have bought the tix to the top when the counter told us there's heavy fog and visibility limited. Didn't expect it to be so bad. So we went down very quickly.